Gear box type vehicle headlamp position adjusters have lately become of importance for they enable right angle and other angular relationships to exist between the rotary input and the output adjustment member which is of great advantage in modern automobile design that often involves complex arrangements and/or confined space rendering the use of conventional singular vehicle headlight position adjustment screws different if not impossible.
Examples of two such gear box type headlight position adjusters are respectively disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,665,469 and 4,796,494, assigned to the assignee of this invention and the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Another example of a gear box headlight position assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,399 and a most recent example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,939,946, the disclosures of both of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Although the present invention includes gear box assemblies having output adjustment members that rotate, it particularly addresses the type of gear box in which the output and adjustment member moves axially without rotation in response to rotation of the input member and the means by which the output member is prevented from rotating and even more particularly to the gear box housing itself which characteristically features a top (cover) and a bottom that are detachable from each other to enable assembly, replacement and repair of the components within that enable conversion from rotary input motion to axial output motion.
The detachability between the gear box housing cover and bottom creates the risk of separation or loss of most often the cover from the bottom and may result in contamination, loss or damage to one or more of the components within the gear box housing.
The present invention provides a solution to the problem by providing means for holding the gear box housing parts together in the event that they become detached from each other and, for those assemblies in which the output member is prevented from rotating, the invention is adaptable to provide additional means for preventing the output adjustment member from rotating as it moves in opposite axial direction in response to rotation of the rotary member.